Friday, March 15, 2013

Most people would think that first term Senator Ted Cruz (R-TX) would have learned his lesson after his debacle with now Secretary of Defense Hagel and the phony group "Friends of Hamas," but we were wrong.
Since the Secretary of Defense briefing, Senator Cruz has managed to say some things that get under people's skin but it is nothing compared to his lecturing Senator Feinstein (D-CA) on the Constitution during a Senate Hearing on the Assault Weapons Ban. Cruz was arrogant and condescending toward a longtime woman Senator but that he seems to fit in the mold of the conservatives who don't want women in power which describes a good number of the Republicans in the House and Senate.

If Cruz is an example of younger people elected to the Senate by the Tea Party, it is an abject failure. Never in my life have I felt more disdain for a member of the Senate then I do for Ted Cruz. Do you know how bad that is with some of the Senators we have had over the years? Texans got snowed when Cruz and the Koch Bros through Freedom Works, Americans for Prosperity and their Tea Party along with Club for Growth took out Lt Governor David Dewhurst with lies and innuendoes which turned into facts in the conservative media. That is what the Koch Bros organizations seem to do best -- put out lies and have them turn into facts when reported by the media.

Everyone needs to see/hear Senator Feinstein's reaction to being lectured by a first term Senator with only two months under his belt - Ted Cruz:

You can tell by the look on Senator Feinstein's face that she has all she can do to keep from leveling him. Unlike Cruz, she has class. The very idea that he would be new to the Committee and lecture the sponsor of this new AWB is deplorable. It is one thing to ask stupid questions but to lecture shows how little regard he has for the US Senate. In September 2004 the Assault Weapons Ban was allowed to expire by the Republican Congress. Looking back to 2004, the Congress went against the wishes of President Bush who felt the ban should stay in place which means in 2004 the GOP was most likely bought and paid for by the NRA - we just didn't know how bad.

A third measure to reform gun violence prevention passed the Senate Judiciary Committee Thursday along party lines, but not without bitter opposition from Republicans, who claimed that such a ban would violate the Second Amendment and analogized restrictions on guns to censoring books under the First Amendment.

Sen. Ted Cruz (R-TX) battered Democrats with questions about whether they would support restrictions on the First or Fourth Amendments he claimed were similar to those an assault weapons ban would impose on the Second:

I pose to the senator from California [Sen. Diane Feinstein], would she deem it consistent with the Bill of Rights for Congress to engage in the same endeavor that we are contemplating doing with the Second Amendment in the context of the First or Fourth Amendment, namely, would she consider it constitutional for congress to specify that the first amendment shall apply only to the following books and shall not apply to the books that congress has deemed outside the protection of the Bill of Rights?

But Sen. Charles Schumer (D-NY) obliterated his argument by noting the analogous actual restrictions on the actual First Amendment:

In reference to the question my colleague from Texas asked, would you limit books? Would you name specific books? Yeah. It’s constitutional within the ambit of the First Amendment to eliminate child pornography. And we have lots of laws that are very explicit about that. Very explicit. That are constitutional, that have been upheld as constitutional. Similarly, you can’t falsely scream fire in a crowded theater. Similarly, we have libel laws. Every one of these is an impingement on the sacred First Amendment, upheld as constitutional. There are reasonable limits on each amendment, and I think it is anomalous, to put it kindly, for either side to interpret one amendment so expansively and another amendment so narrowly that it just doesn’t add up because your interpretation of the Constitution should be consistent.

Sen. Sheldon Whitehouse (D-RI) then dealt the final blow with a direct comparison between First and Second Amendment restrictions both intended to protect public safety:

It is hard to imagine that it would be a violation of the First Amendment for somebody to yell fire in a crowded theater but it’s not a violation of the Second Amendment to prevent somebody from bringing a hundred-round magazine into a crowded theater in a Aurora, Colorado.

Last night on MSNBC, Rachel Maddow had new information from the Hartford Courant on the Sandy Hook shooting. If you are on the fence about the Feinstein AWB, watch this video from Rachel Maddow which details what happened that day at Sandy Hook, then ask yourself why we are not banning high capacity magazine clips and assault weapons that belong in the military?

Want to thank Rachel Maddow for dismantling Ted Cruz with facts. How Republican Senators can sit and listen to what happened at Sandy Hook, Aurora, CO, and Tuscon, AZ with the use of semi-automatic weapons and not support a ban is beyond comprehension. To still push the idea that assault weapons with large capacity magazine clips should be made readily available via the Second Amendment says these GOP Senators are nothing more then puppets of the NRA who represents gun and ammo manufactures not their NRA members. Most military leaders do not believe civilians should have access to these weapons. These style weapons are not allowed in base housing but are kept in the armory. No member of the military can take one home off base either, but that same member can walk in a gun show in some states and buy one with no identification.

After watching the new details from Sandy Hook last night I am left with the hollow feeling that those of us who have always opposed assault weapons in the hands of civilians didn't speak out loud enough to get those assault weapons with high capacity magazine clips banned once again. How many children and adults would have been saved since 2004, if the AWB had been renewed?

If you believe all you need to go hunting is a shotgun or a normal rifle or if believe you only need a shotgun to protect your home, then welcome to common sense America. If you want to go target shooting, then you will still have access to 10-round clips so you reload more times - better then then some nutcase having access to high capacity clips available like the 30-round ones used in Sandy Hook.

However, if you believe the 2nd amendment gives you the right to own any weapon you want including a bazooka, then you are nothing more than a wanna be soldier IMO. Why not sign up for the ground troops of the Army or Marines if you want to use these assault weapons. Stop pretending that you need to take to the streets to defend against the Government or parading around with your weapon to say you can open carry which makes everyone nervous. IMHO that is being irrational but the NRA has been running a campaign along with Conservative Republicans that the Government is coming to take your guns or the Government is going to dissolve so you need all these guns and ammo to protect yourself and your family. Unfortunately some people actually believe some of the GOP Conservatives and the NRA with their campaign against the Government.

All that talk about the Government and need for guns in the streets has been campaign rhetoric by the NRA and their Republicans puppets to get people to buy more guns. Don't forget the NRA is the lobbying arm of gun and ammunition manufacturers while the GOP is the puppet of the NRA. More households don't own guns but more guns are in the households that already have too many weapons today as gun purchases are reaching an all time high.

Time to reinstate the Assault Weapons Ban which exempts over 2,000 weapons from the ban. These so called "patriots" cannot function with 2,000 weapons to choose from? Give me a break! Smaller capacity gun magazine clips will save lives as people have to reload many more times to fire off the same number of rounds in these mass shootings.